


Duality is always secretly unity.

by PoliticalPadmé (magnetgirl)



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: F/M, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-30
Updated: 2017-12-30
Packaged: 2019-02-23 03:19:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 667
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13181268
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/magnetgirl/pseuds/PoliticalPadm%C3%A9
Summary: Rey wakes before Kylo Ren and must choose what to do.(set during the last act ofThe Last Jedi)





	Duality is always secretly unity.

**Author's Note:**

  * For [inthegrayworld](https://archiveofourown.org/users/inthegrayworld/gifts).



Rey's eyes open to light glinting off the exposed crystal of the sundered lightsaber. It briefly surrounds her in a low blue glow that disappears when she leaps to a defensive crouch, snatches the broken weapon into her hand and attaches it to her belt before turning to scan the room for its partner.

It's across the room. Beside Ben, still unconscious, outlined in a faint red light reflected from the armor of one of Snoke's fallen guards.

Rey stands slowly, poised to attack, or flee, but no one and nothing else moves in the room, destroyed by their battle, the explosion of the lightsaber, and whatever happened to cause the ground to quake. She lowers her hands and walks with a swift, silent purpose to retrieve the other half of the legacy lightsaber.

She approaches with caution, but Ben doesn't stir. Keeping an eye on his breathing she collects the snapped hilt. Perhaps Luke will want it now it's as broken as he is, she thinks, tracing the edge of the metal with her finger. Like the legend of Luke Skywalker, and his father before him, the lightsaber had represented hope. Hers, Leia's, the Resistance's. Ben's, too, she realizes.

With renewed anger, Rey Force pushes the body of the guard to a far corner and the harsh red glow falls away from Ben's face. Curled on the ground, face calm, if haunted. Conflicted. But calm. He could be asleep.

 _Reach out with your feelings_.

She focuses on the curve of his lashes, the slope of his eyelids, and opens herself up to the energy, the Force, between them.

The Darkness is overwhelming. She feels colder than she's ever been, yet also burning. Ash fills her lungs, a weight presses on her chest, it hurts to breathe. Her body is decaying but won't die. She's afraid, so afraid. And so alone. Like the mirror only a hundred times worse because she can't leave. And when she reaches out, no one is there. Visions of death and destruction flood her eyes. Some moments she recognizes. The burning temple. Han falling back into the dark. A red saber cutting across Finn's chest. Others she doesn't. Bones cracking. A gloved hand on the trigger of a fighter. Then reaching to crush the larynx of an underling. A panel of lights exploding. A river of lava. A green saber poised to cut down --

"I could end this," she whispers to someone's memory, her eyes flickering to the intact lightsaber on the floor between her and Ben. She could light it, cut him down as he sleeps, end the Skywalker line and strike a significant blow to the First Order. She would be a hero, vanquish a villain.

 _You are a monster.  
_ _Yes. I am._

Kylo's saber is heavy in her hand. It pulses with a dark, dangerous energy. Anger writ large. It calls to her, knows her, understands her. Encourages her to fulfill her destiny. To prove--

But deep within there is something else. A field of flowers. White. Golden. Pink. And so much green. And water, crashing, churning, drifting up into the sky and falling back down. She feels rain on her cheek. Or tears.

Rey lowers the saber back down the floor. Drops beside it. Beside him.

Slowly, she brushes Ben's hair back and cups his face in her hands. She leans close, touches her forehead to his. "I'm not afraid," she whispers in defiance of the dark, and the light. "I'm not afraid of you." She presses her lips to his.  

The ship lurches and a chunk of the ceiling dislodges, falling to the floor with a loud crash and sending sparks flying. Rey hears movement on the other side of the door and scampers away to the shuttle she spied in the far corner of the room. The Resistance needs her. With one last glance to Ben she launches into the sky, hoping against hope the broken light she rescued will be enough to save them all.


End file.
